American teams top the standings as Alberto Contador’s rivals draw first blood

Marco Pinotti (HTC-Highroad) pulled on the first maglia rosa of this year’s Giro d’Italia, thanks to his team’s blistering performance in the opening team time trial between Venaria Reale and Torino (Turin). The American team completed the 19.3km course in a time of 20’59”, the only team to go below 21 minutes, and allowed the Italian time trial champion to cross the line first, wearing the tricolore jersey in 150th anniversary of the unification of Italy.

RadioShack finished in second place, just ten seconds outside the time of HTC-Highroad, with Liquigas-Cannondale taking third, 22 seconds back.

"It's a huge honour to be wearing the maglia rosa," said Pinotti after the presentation, "but this is a victory that belongs to the whole team. I can't thank them enough.

"We made a very strong start," he explained, "and the best riders took the longest turns on the front. We made sure we kept a steady pace throughout and that's always important. It was flat all the way but it wasn't an easy course, you had to be careful with the tram lines and on the corners, some of them were very difficult; but we'd ridden over the race route this morning and we'd prepared everything right down to the last detail.

"Looking at the result, we couldn't have done better. It's a great day for the team," he added.

The Omega Pharma-Lotto team got the 2011 Giro d’Italia under way; the riders apparently taking their time over the cobbles and flagstones of the opening few hundred metres. The Belgian team was soon up to speed though and set a respectable time of 10’04” through the intermediate time check after 9.1km.

Next team off was the Russian team Katusha, without its two Italians Filippo Pozzato and Luca Paolini. Such was the early pace set by the Russian team that it was reduced to seven men after just a few kilometres; with the time taken on the fifth rider across the line though, the team still had riders in hand, but could not afford any more mishaps.

Shortly after the Acqua & Sapone team of race number 1 Stefano Garzelli set off, the Omega Pharma-Lotto team crossed the line; the Belgian team set the first target for the others to aim at of 21’21”.

Surprisingly, since the team is hardly packed with powerful Fabian Cancellara types, the Androni Giocattoli-CIPI team lowered the fastest time at the intermediate checkpoint by a second to 10’03”.

Omega Pharma-Lotto was not to be last on the stage, as the Katusha team, now reduced to six riders, crossed the line 42 seconds slower in 22’03”. The seven remaining men of the Astana team were next to finish, and they too were unable to match the Omega Pharma-Lotto time; finishing in a provisional second place of 21’49”.

Androni Giocattoli-CIPI almost managed to maintain the surprising pace that it had set over the first half of the course, finishing in 21’38”, just 17 seconds off the pace.

Unsurprisingly, since the team was the slowest at the mid-point so far, Colnago-CSF Inox finished in 22’01”; the pale blue and white team still managed to finish in front of Katusha though, who was still sitting in last place.

Meanwhile, Rabobank, the first of the possible favourites, lowered the best time at the midway point to 10’02”, going one second quicker than Androni Giocattoli-CIPI; Team Sky was next across, but couldn’t quite match the Dutch team, and were a fraction of a second outside

Finally the Russians were relieved of the honour of the race’s first maglia nera though, as Acqua & Sapone crossed the line in 22’06”. The next team over though was perennial team time trial also-ran Euskaltel-Euskadi though, who raised the worst time further to 22’12”.

Rabobank, who won the team time trial in Tirreno-Adriatico, albeit with a different squad, was not quite able to match Omega Pharma-Lotto over the second half of the course though; finishing in 21’25”, four seconds outside.

Team Sky too found itself slowing a little in relation to the Belgian team, finishing in 21’36”, 15 seconds slower.

Saxo Bank-SunGard, with the time trialling strength of Richie Porte and race favourite Alberto Contador went close to the intermediate time of Rabobank; the Danish team clocked 10’03”, going into second place at that point.

Not expected to set the race alight on this stage, despite the presence of previous winner Denis Menchov, Geox-TMC finished in 21’52”.

Wearing number 150 in honour of Italy’s 150th anniversary, Giovanni Visconti lost virtually all hope of swapping his maglia tricolore for the maglia rosa, at least inside the first week; his Farnese Vini-Neri Sottoli team crossed the line in 22’06”, marginally quicker than Acqua & Sapone, but still 45 seconds shy of the lead.

Just as virtually every team other than the current leader Omega Pharma-Lotto had done, the Saxo Bank-SunGard team was not quite able to maintain the pace it had set in the first half of the course. Contador’s team crossed the line in 21’29”, eight seconds slower than the Belgians, but surely a good time for the Spaniard in the battle against the other overall contenders.

Meanwhile out on the course, the HTC-Highroad team blitzed through the halfway point in an incredible 9’48”, fully 14 seconds quicker than Rabobank. Garmin-Cervélo followed a few minutes later; the American team too were quicker than Rabobank, but were 11 seconds slower than rivals HTC-Highroad.

BMC Racing team were next to cross the line with a respectable, mid-table 21’40”.

The HTC-Highroad team continued its blistering pace to the line; like Omega Pharma-Lotto it managed to sustain its first half performance. The team stopped the clock on 20’59” to take the lead. True to its word, the team allowed Marco Pinotti, clad in the tricolore of Italian time trial champion to cross the line first, putting him in the provisional pink jersey position.

Not to be outdone by overall rival Contador, Vincenzo Nibali’s Liquigas-Cannondale team crossed the midway time check just nine seconds slower than HTC-Columbia.

Having lost four of its members on the course, the Garmin-Cervélo team’s remaining five crossed the line, in a distinctly ragged manner, in 21’28”, fading into third place.

The Lampre-ISD team fared better despite an average time at the first check, crossing the line in a surprisingly fast 21’23”, to go into provisional second. Team leader Michele Scarponi took a small, but doubtless morale-boosting six seconds out of Contador.

Having lost just two riders out on the course, the seven men of Liquigas-Cannondale finished a fraction of a second faster than Omega Pharma-Lotto, 22 seconds slower than HTC-Highroad. Nibali too though, had drawn first blood in the battle with Contador.

There was drama for the RadioShack team as Ivan Rovny overcooked a corner in the first few kilometres of the course. Thankfully he managed to stay upright as he nudged the barriers, and was at the back of the line and brought no one else down, but the Russian faced riding almost the entire course alone.

Leopard Trek was the next to finish in a neither-good-nor-bad time of 21’41”, 42 seconds outside HTC-Highroad. AG2R La Mondiale followed them a few minutes later, going into provisional twelfth with 21’48”.

Even though it had lost Rovny so early, the RadioShack team still managed to post the second fastest time at the midway point, just eight seconds slower than that of HTC-Highroad.

Quick Step was the next team to finish, having kept all nine men together on the course, and posted a reasonable 21’41” to slip in front of AG2R La Mondiale. Vacansoleil-DCM, riding its first Giro, also kept all nine together and posted a respectable 21’36”.

Matching its speed over the first half of the course, the RadioShack team crossed the line in 21’09” to go into provisional second place. Robbie McEwen led the American team over the line, so as to take the maglia rosa had the team won; sadly for the Aussie sprinter though, he was just ten seconds too late.

Movistar, the last team to start, finished in a respectable time of 21’37”, to go into eleventh place.